ey said that your grandfather, the old lord,
kept him very close and spare, although he was the only son. Now this
must have been--let me see, how long ago?--about five-and-twenty years,
I think. How old are you now, Miss Erema? I can keep the weeks better
than the years, miss."

"I was eighteen on my last birthday. But never mind about the time--go
on."

"But the time makes all the difference, miss, although at the time
we may never think so. Well, then, it must have been better than
six-and-twenty year agone; for though you came pretty fast, in the
Lord's will, there was eight years between you and the first-born babe,
who was only just a-thinking of when I begin to tell. But to come back
to myself, as was--mother had got too many of us still, and she was glad
enough to let me go, however much she might cry over it, as soon as Lady
Williams got me the place. My place was to wait upon the lady first,
and make myself generally useful, as they say. But it was not very
long before I was wanted in other more important ways, and having been
brought up among so many children, they found me very handy with the
little ones; and being in a poor way, as they were then--for people, I
mean, of their birth and place--they were glad enough soon to make head
nurse of me, although I was under-two-and-twenty.

"We did not live at the old lord's place, which is under the hills
looking on the river Thames, but we had a quiet little house in
Hampshire; for the Captain was still with his regiment, and only came to
and fro to us. But a happier little place there could not be, with the
flowers, and the cow, and the birds all day, and the children running
gradually according to their age, and the pretty brook shining in the
valley. And as to the paying of their way, it is true that neither of
them was a great manager. The Captain could not bear to keep his pretty
wife close; and she, poor thing, was trying always to surprise him with
other presents besides all the beautiful babies. But they never were in
debt all round, as the liars said when the trouble burst; and if they
owed two or three hundred pounds, who could justly blame them?

"For the old lord, instead of going on as he should, and widening his
purse to the number of the mouths, was niggling at them always for
offense or excuse, to take away what little he allowed them. The Captain
had his pay, which would go in one hand, and the lady had a little money
of her own; but still it